19 Dec Publishing tips
It can be a lonely road to the top. This week is a round up of publishing tips. Next post, I’ll focus on how to write a winning proposal.
Traditional Publishing
- This requires a decent proposal sent to an agent or direct to a publisher. If you are sending to a publisher, ensure you have the correct name of the editor who publishes non-fiction/travel memoir. You can often find names of agents/editors in the acknowledgements of other travel memoirs. Pick half-a-dozen of your favourites and start there.
- Agents’ and publishers’ contact details can be found in the Australian Writers Marketplace. Read their submission guidelines carefully.
- Allen & Unwin still publish travel memoirs regularly and offer the Friday Pitch. Essentially you email them a short synopsis and the first chapter of your work. If they like what they read, they will get back to you within a fortnight. This is for fiction and non-fiction.
- If you go down this route, or you approach any publisher directly, make sure your writing is as good as it can be. Ask friends for critical feedback or get professional advice. Normally you only have one shot with a publisher.
Self-publishing
- For a full discussion on the pros and cons, check out American agent Rachelle Gardner’s recent post. Remember that she’s talking about the American market which is much bigger than the Australian. In Australia, if you sell 10,000 copies, that’s considered a success. Still, there are interesting ideas in the discussion.
- If you want to go down the self-publishing route, the Australian Selfpublishing group consider themselves ‘cooperative self publishers’ and have book stands at the London and Frankfurt book fairs. They are currently looking for submissions for the 2011 October fair in Frankfurt.
E-books
- E-books are another option worth exploring, especially if you want to use your travel memoir as a ‘calling card’ to get other work. Both self-publishing and e-books are often popular among business authors who sell their books at seminars or workshops.
- I published my first e-book Secrets of Travel Writing last year. Despite no marketing, I sell several a month (cost $17.95) to customers all over the world. I plan to expand on this and write several others once I finish my current major book project.
- You can also publish your e-books through Lulu, which claims to be the global leader in self-publishing. This is a one-stop-shop for publishing, marketing and distribution.
- Then, of course, there’s Amazon. You can find e-books on every topic on Amazon Kindle e-books. Many are free, most cost no more than $5.
- If you’re based in Sydney and want to find out more, Sydney Writers Centre run seminars on self-publishing and Amazon e-books. I’m planning to go myself. Otherwise, there’s plenty of advice online.
- If you do go down the self-publishing route, you must think how to build your online platform and how to promote your book. Marketing is key. Novelpublicity offers lots of services to do just that.
Anyone out there got a success story? Feel free to share.